§229ὁ μὲν λόγος οὐκ ἐξ ἴσου τῇ τε πόλει καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις· οἱ μὲν γὰρ οὐδὲν ἂν δείξαιεν τοσοῦτον ὅσον εἴποιεν ἂν, ἡμεῖς δʼ οὐδὲν ἂν εἴποιμεν ὅσον δεῖξαι πάρεστιν.
The speech is not on equal terms for the city and for others; for the others could show nothing so great as they could say, whereas we could say nothing so great as is available for us to show.
ἀνάγκη δὲ ἀφοσιώσασθαι πρὸς τὸν νόμον, ἐπειδὴ καὶ οἵδε κελεύουσιν.
But it is necessary to perform our duty to the law, since these people too command it.
ἔστι δὲ ὅμως κἀν τούτῳ κέρδος τῇ πόλει καὶ τῷ λέγοντι σχεδὸν ἥκιστα κίνδυνος.
Yet even in this there is profit for the city, and for the speaker almost the least danger.
ὁ μὲν γὰρ ὅσῳ καλλίω φανεῖται τὰ ὁρώμενα, τοσούτῳ μᾶλλον τὸ εἰκὸς δόξει παθεῖν ἀπολειφθεὶς, ὥστε ἅμα τε ἐξελεγχθήσεται καὶ τὴν συγγνώμην ἐκ τῶν ἐλέγχων ἕξει· τῇ δὲ πόλει φιλοτιμία προσγίγνεται, εἰ τοιούτων καὶ τοσούτων ὄντων ὧν ἔχει δεικνύναι, μὴ μόνον τοῖς ὁρωμένοις ἰσχυρίζεται, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῖς περὶ τῶν πατρίων λόγοις.
For the speaker, the more beautiful the sights appear, the more he will seem reasonably to have fallen short of them, so that he will simultaneously be refuted and obtain pardon from those very refutations; while honor accrues to the city, if, when the things she has to show are of such a nature and so great, she relies not only on the sights, but also on the accounts of her ancestral history.
ἔστι γὰρ οὐ νεωστὶ ἡμῖν ἡ πόλις εὐτυχὴς, ἀλλʼ ἐκ προγόνων, καὶ καθέστηκεν αὐτὴ πρὸς αὑτὴν ἐν ἀποίκου σχήματι καὶ μητροπόλεως· τρίτη γάρ ἐστιν ἀπὸ τῆς ἀρχαίας.
For our city is not fortunate only recently, but from ancestral times, and she stands in relation to herself in the form of both a colony and a mother city; for she is the third from the ancient one.
ὥσπερ γὰρ τὰ ἀγάλματα καὶ οἱ διʼ ἀκριβείας λόγοι δευτέρᾳ καὶ τρίτῃ χειρὶ καθίστανται, οὕτως ἄρα καὶ τὴν πόλιν τρίτῃ χειρὶ χρὴ κτισθεῖσαν ἀκριβῶσαι τὸ κάλλος, καὶ γέγονε δὴ παλαιοτάτη καὶ καινοτάτη ἡ αὐτὴ, ἑαυτὴν ἀνανεωσαμένη, καθάπερ τὸν ὄρνιν φασὶ τὸν ἱερόν.
For just as statues and highly polished speeches are established by a second and a third hand, so indeed was it necessary for this city also, having been founded by a third hand, to perfect its beauty; and so the very same city has become both oldest and newest, having renewed herself, just as they say of the sacred bird.
ἡ μὲν οὖν πρεσβυτάτη πόλις ἐν τῷ Σιπύλῳ κτίζεται, οὗ δὴ τάς τε θεῶν εὐνὰς εἶναι λέγουσι καὶ τοὺς Κουρήτων χοροὺς περὶ τὴν τοῦ Διὸς μητέρα.
Now, the oldest city was founded on Mount Sipylus, where indeed they say are the marriage beds of the gods and the dances of the Curetes around the mother of Zeus.
οὕτω δʼ ἦν ἐξ ἀρχῆς θεοφιλὴς ὥστε λέγουσιν οἱ ποιηταὶ τοὺς θεοὺς ἅμα τοῖς ἥρωσιν ἐρανίζειν εἰς αὐτὴν ἀναμὶξ εὐωχουμένους.
And it was so beloved by the gods from the beginning that the poets say the gods, feasting in common with the heroes, contributed to it, dining together promiscuously.
ἐκείνην μὲν οὖν αἱ Νύμφαι δέχονται, καὶ νῦν ἐστιν ὕφαλος, ὑπελθοῦσα τὴν λίμνην, ὥς φασι.
That city, then, the Nymphs received, and now it is under water, having gone beneath the lake, as they say.
δευτέρα δὲ μετὰ ταῦτα ᾠκεῖτο ὑπὸ τῷ Σιπύλῳ παρὰ τὴν χηλὴν τῆς ἠιόνος, ἐν μέσῳ τῆς ἀρχαίας καὶ τῆς νῦν, ἡ §230νῦν ἀρχαία πρὸς ταύτην καθεστηκυῖα.
But the second after this was inhabited under Mount Sipylus, by the spur of the shore, in the middle of the ancient and the present one, which has become the 'ancient city' in comparison to this one.
ταῦτα δʼ ἦν ὥσπερ μελέται τῆσδε τῆς οἰκήσεως ἐν ἄλλοις φαυλοτέροις πλάσμασι.
And these were like practices for this present habitation in other, more ordinary molds.
τρίτῳ δὲ, ὡς οἱ ποιηταὶ καλοῦσι, βήματι κινηθεῖσα ἡ πόλις εἰς ἓν τόδε κατέστη τὸ σχῆμα.
And by a third step, as the poets call it, the city having been moved, settled into this single form.
ὁ δὲ λεὼς ὁ μὲν πρεσβύτατος αὐτόχθων αὐτῇ· ἐπεὶ δὲ καὶ ἐποίκους ἔδει δέξασθαι, ἐδέξατο καὶ τούτους ἀπὸ τῶν αὐτοχθόνων ἀπὸ τῆς ἑτέρας ἠπείρου, καὶ συνεκράθη δαιμονίως τοῖς ἀντιπέραν Ἕλλησιν, οἰκιστὰς δοῦσά τε καὶ δεξαμένη, Πελοποννησίοις μὲν τὸν ἐπώνυμον δοῦσα καὶ τὸ σεμνύνεσθαι τῇ προσηγορίᾳ, Ἀθήνηθεν δὲ τοὺς Ἐρεχθείδας, ὡς λόγος, ἐκ τοῦ πρὸς Ἀμαζόνας πολέμου δεξαμένη, καὶ ὕστερον δὴ τοὺς ὑστέρους.
As for the people, the oldest part was indigenous to her; but when it was necessary to receive colonists also, she received these too from the indigenous people from the other continent, and was mixed in a wondrous way with the Greeks opposite, having both given and received founders, giving to the Peloponnesians their eponym and the right to pride themselves on the name, while receiving from Athens the Erechtheidae, as the story goes, from the war against the Amazons, and later indeed those who came after.
ἀπέλαυσαν δὲ τῆς μητροπόλεως ἀμφότερα, ἁβρότητας μὲν εἰς τὸ καθʼ ἡμέραν, τολμήματα δὲ εἰς τοὺς πολέμους κρεῖττον ἢ πολλοῖς ἐρίσαι λυσιτελεῖν· ὥστε καὶ τῶν ποιητῶν ἤδη τισὶ Σμυρναῖον τρόπον τὸ τοιοῦτον εἰρῆσθαι.
And both classes enjoyed the qualities of the mother city: refinement in daily life, and daring in wars, a combination more advantageous than many could compete with; so that even some of the poets already have called this kind of character 'the Smyrnaean way'.
δεῖγμα δὲ ἓν ἐξαρκέσει, οὗ καὶ τὸ ὑπόμνημα ὄψει.
But one proof will suffice, of which you will also see the memorial.
καλοῦσι γάρ σε ἦρος ὥρᾳ πρώτῃ Διονυσίοις, τριήρης ἱερὰ τῷ Διονύσῳ φέρεται κύκλῳ διʼ ἀγορᾶς.
For they invite you in the first season of spring, at the Dionysia, when a sacred trireme is carried in a circle through the marketplace for Dionysus.
τὸ δʼ ἐστὶ σύμβολον ὡς ποτὲ Χῖοι πλεύσαντες ἐπὶ τὴν πόλιν, ὡς ἐρήμην αἱρήσοντες, τῶν ἀνδρῶν ἀπόντων ἐν τῷ ὄρει, κᾆτα τῶν νεῶν ὀφθέντες ὑπʼ αὐτῶν κατιόντων, οὐ μόνον τῆς πείρας ἀπέτυχον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰς ναῦς προσαπώλεσαν, ἐνόπλιον δὴ τότε ὀρχησαμένων τῷ Διονύσῳ καὶ τὰ Βακχεῖα ἐν τοῖς ἐκείνων σώμασι τελεσαμένων.
And this is a symbol of how once the Chians, having sailed against the city, planning to capture it as though it were deserted while the men were away on the mountain, and then their ships having been seen by the men as they came down, not only failed in their attempt, but also lost their ships besides, when the citizens then danced in arms for Dionysus and performed the Bacchic rites upon the enemies' bodies.
καὶ τοῦτο μὲν ἥδυσμα ταῖς πράξεσι τῆς πόλεώς ἐστι καὶ ὡσπερεὶ σύμβολόν τι τῶν ἄλλων ὧν ἀνάγκη παραλιπεῖν· διὸ καὶ ὑπὸ τῶν πολλῶν ἄρα θρυλεῖται.
And this indeed is an embellishment to the deeds of the city and like a symbol of the other things which must be omitted; wherefore indeed it is on everyone's lips.
πολλοὺς δʼ ἄν τις αὐτῆς ἔχοι λέγειν ἀγῶνας καὶ ἄλλους, καὶ δὴ τοὺς τελευταίους τοὺς ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν καὶ σὺν ὑμῖν ἐν παντὶ τῷ παραστάντι, πολλῆς τινος ἔργον σχολῆς διηγήσασθαι.
But one could speak of many other struggles of hers, and indeed the recent ones on your behalf and with you in every crisis that arose, the narration of which would be the task of a great deal of leisure.